Christian radio host Harold Camping says Jesus is coming back in nine months: May 21, 2011. Then the world will end, according to his calculations, on October 21, 2011. He's been announcing this on his Family Radio broadcasts for several years.

The good news is that we won't have to deal with that pesky 2012 Mayan calendar apocalypse.

The bad news is that people are taking Camping seriously.

The Colorado Springs Gazette tells of a woman there who paid $1,200 to buy advertising space for bus benches in the area to help get the message out.

Marie Exley is unemployed but feels it's important that people have time to prepare for Christ's imminent return...even though the prediction makes her sad.

From the article:

Exley has bittersweet feelings about Camping's prediction.

"There are things I felt I always wanted to do -- get married, have a kid, travel more," she said. "But it's not about what I want out of life. It's about what God wants."

Since apparently it's rapture week here at O Me of Little Faith...and since I got my start as a writer by making fun of End-Times mania, I guess I could spend the next few paragraphs waxing sarcastically about Camping and his failed end-of-the-world predictions and the dumb, complicated mathematical code he uses to arrive at them. After all, he's been playing up this 2011 date for several years, since Jesus failed to come back when Camping originally predicted it in 1994. (Camping says it's because he made a mathematical error with that date, but now he's corrected it. Score one for calculators.)

But today is one of those days when I just don't find any humor in this kind of thing. Today, Camping's brand of apocalypticism just makes me sad. His super-confident, trust-me-I'm-an-expert teaching causes people like Exley to spend money she doesn't have on useless advertising, and it makes her think that this is her last year on earth. It depresses her now, a little -- she's missing out on marriage and a family -- and it sets her up for disappointment later, when Jesus doesn't come back next May.

I'm already disappointed and sad at this kind of reaction, because not only does it play on people's fears, but it manipulates them because of their hope.

Camping himself has little to lose. He's an old man. If he's right about Christ's return, he's already lived a full life and he'll be hailed as a prophet. Camping, FTW! But if he's wrong -- which he WILL be -- well, he'll get through it just like he did in 1994. He'll blame the math or something and eventually retire. The sooner, the better. He'll survive.

But people like Exley have much more to lose. They'll spend this next year in limbo. Why get a job if Jesus is coming back in May? Why plan for the future? Why save anything for retirement, or fall in love, or start a family if the world's about to fall into chaos? She'll suspend her life until May 21, 2011, and when Jesus fails to adhere to Camping's timetable, she'll have to start over...spiritually, emotionally, and culturally. She'll look like an idiot. She'll have wasted a good chunk of money. She'll have put her hope in something and see it fall to pieces.

Camping's faith will survive the failed prediction, just like it did in 1994. But what about Exley's faith? What will happen to the faith of his thousands of listeners who have invested their hope (and money) into this scenario?

We can laugh all we want at the stupidity of End-Times date-setters who are wrong. They've been wrong for two thousand years, and they'll be wrong in the future.

But it's hard to laugh at the gullible people who believe them. If you want to be mean, you can call them mindless sheep. But don't forget that they're also a kind of victim: Victims of hope, victims of religious fervor, and victims of certainty.

Yeah, in Calculus class you gave up the 15 points if you didn’t show your work. The least he could do is publish his computations ... I’m a mathematician by profession and a committed believer in Christ. I would be happy to give the computations a fair shake despite my bias going in.

Here is a sample from Harold Camping’s latest book entitled: “We are Almost There!”

The church age embraced, to the very day, exactly 1,955 years in that it began on Pentecost day, May 22, A.D. 33, and ended the day before Pentecost on May 21, 1988 (A.D.). (p. 29)

As we have noted, God further solidifies or locks in this date, May 21, 2011, by placing the day of shutting the door, when the rapture will occur, on the 17th day of the second month of the Biblical calendar. Significantly, the number 17 links perfectly to the fact of the rapture because spiritually, the number 17 signifies heaven.

Moreover, the number 2 (second month) spiritually identifies with those who have been commissioned to bring the Gospel. Is it not amazing that they will be raptured on the 17th day of the second month? Is that coincidental?
We also have learned that the last day of the earths existence, October 21, 2011, is the 23rd day of the seventh month of the Biblical calendar. The number 23 normally signifies Gods wrath being poured out. The number 7 (seventh month) signifies the perfect fulfillment of Gods purposes. Could this also be coincidental, that the final completion of Gods punishment on the unsaved occurs in the seventh month on a day that features the number 23, which is a number that completely identifies with Gods wrath, thus signifying Gods perfect wrath on the unsaved? (p. 61-62).

By Campings understanding, the Bible was dictated by God and every word and number carries a spiritual significance. He noticed that particular numbers appeared in the Bible at the same time particular themes are discussed.

The number 5, Camping concluded, equals atonement. Ten is completeness. Seventeen means heaven. Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D., he began. Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and thats 1,978 years.

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days  the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500.

Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story, Camping said. Its the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until youre completely saved.

I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that, Camping said

Rick LaCasse, who attended the September 1994 service in Alameda, said that 15 years later, his faith in Camping has only strengthened.

Evidently, he was wrong, LaCasse allowed, but this time it is going to happen. There was some doubt last time, but we didnt have any proofs. This time we do.

Would his opinion of Camping change if May 21, 2011, ended without incident?

RE: I would be happy to give the computations a fair shake despite my bias going in.

Want to see how Camping does it ? You have to read his book.

Here’s a sample :

Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D., he began. Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and thats 1,978 years.

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days  the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500.

Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story, Camping said. Its the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until youre completely saved.

For one historical point that should be of interest , the crucifixion was a couple of years earlier than that, hence the rapture according to Harold Campings 1,978 years logic should have been no later than May of 2009 (33 A.D. for the crucifixion year has been eliminated by most serious biblical scholars). His followers should take the time and look at what the Bible does and does not teachas it does not teaching many of the calculations that he is teachings.

Notice the basis for the 1,978 years according to Harold Camping:

1978 = 2 x 23 x 43
Number 2 symbolizes those who are to bring the Gospel.
Number 23 symbolizes wrath
Number 43 symbolizes judgment

Thus, by the number 1,978, God is emphasizing that judgment will fall on those who had been commissioned to bring the Gospel (2) and are still subject to the wrath of God (23 and 43). (We are Almost There!, p. 64)

I listen to Harold Camping’s “Family Radio” for the music. In an age when electric guitar players are driving organists out of churches and choirs are being replaced by “praise bands,” I am grateful for a radio program that emphasizes traditional hymns and gospel songs.

Christian radio host Harold Camping says Jesus is coming back in nine months: May 21, 2011. Then the world will end, according to his calculations, on October 21, 2011. He's been announcing this on his Family Radio broadcasts for several years.

Harold Camping seems extremely ignorant of the Holy Word of G-d.

Yah'shua offered himself as our Pesach Lamb on Passover, Yah'shua died for all sin on the day the leaven is removed on hagMatzoh, Yah'shua rose from the dead on the feast of First Fruits and sent the Ruach Ha Kodesh to breath on His apostles on the Feast of Weeks.

The fall feasts begin with a forty day period of 'Teshuvah ', which means "to repent or return" It begins in the sixth month of the Religious Calendar, and concludes on the tenth day of the seventh month, which is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Each morning for thirty days in the synagogue following the morning prayers, a trumpet (shofar) is blown

This leaves Yom Teruah ("the day of the awakening blast") also known as Rosh Hashanah the feast of Trumpets with it's final trump Ten days later Yom Kippur the day the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, Cleansing of the people's sins, Succoth, the day when we enter our temporary dwellings and the final gathering after the seven days of the feast of Booths.

It is curious that of all these feasts the only one for which the hour and day are not known is YomTeruah when the final trump is blown

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

34
posted on 08/27/2010 8:51:54 AM PDT
by Uri’el-2012
(Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your law is my delight.)

The 19th of May, 1780, has gone down in New England history as "The Dark Day". Candles were lighted in many houses; the birds were silent and disappeared, and the fowls retired to roost.

The legislature of Connecticut was then in session at Hartford. A very general opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand. A proposal to adjourn the Council was under consideration.

When the opinion of Colonel Davenport was asked, he answered, "I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause of an adjournment: if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought."

37
posted on 08/27/2010 9:05:35 AM PDT
by Notary Sojac
("Goldman Sachs" is to "US economy" as "lamprey" is to "lake trout")

“We also have learned that the last day of the earths existence, October 21, 2011”

That’s the comment that shows that there is no way he is correct. He must have not read the entire Bible or something. The earth is not going to be destroyed. He forgot to read about the 1000 yr reign.

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